Way back at Christmas last year, my cousin bought me a Murder Mystery game. 
On Saturday evening I finally got around to organising it. I invited my cousin and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend and of course there was myself and OH.
I’d sent the invitations out the week before so everyone knew who their character was and what they were supposed to be wearing.
I bought my costume from the British Heart Foundation and after a good wash (it was a bit smelly!!!) it ended up looking OK.
I then had to sort out the food and obviously being the frugal person I am, wanted to do it on a budget.
Sorry Sainsbury’s but I decided to visit my old favourite Aldi. Aldi is brilliant for party goodies like salami, cheeses and nibbles. At OH’s 40th last year I made huge platters of cold meats, cheeses and olives and they looked very expensive. The guests couldn’t believe I’d done it all from Aldi. So, I decided to take a leaf out of my own book…
We started with an anti pasti of bruschetta topped with cream cheese and smoked salmon, Italian breadsticks, salami and German sausage, olives stuffed with cream cheese and I threw in some nuts and crisps for good measure.
The whole lot was washed down with a nice sparkly Pinot Grigio. This is where it started to go wrong for me. The sparkle went straight to my head and I started feeling very tipsy! Ooooohhhh!!
On with the game. We all introduced ourselves as our characters and sat down at the table.
The theme was Paris in 1900 so I’d tried to dress the table accordingly. My cousin lent me a candleabra which had belonged to her grandma, and I added some purple candles.
For the main course I made an old favourite of ours from Jamie Oliver… salmon roasted with cherry tomatoes and green beans served with new potatoes. Really easy and very tasty!
Mmmm!! Lovely main course which went very well with a cold Sauvignon Blanc…starting to feel a bit giggly!
Earlier in the day I’d made another fave from Linda McCartney… chocolate mousse. This is a great recipe that easily makes enough for six and worked out fairly cheap, it also went well with a cheeky little rose wine. No idea what it was called…hic!
The guests had been quizzed, we all played our parts and now it was time to reveal the murderer……over cheese, biscuits and some red wine….hurray!! The murderer was…well, that would be telling and anyway I wouldn’t want to spoil it if you end up playing it.
Everybody had had such a great time we didn’t want it to end…out came the Prosecco…. I vaguely remember the rest of the evening, there was a lot of costume swapping, loud music playing and laughter!
My final memory was OH making me go to bed at….what!!! 3:30am!!! Oh no!!
The next morning I woke at 11:30am….. fine if you’re a teenager, not so fine if you’re a responsible mum of three kids. At 11:45 they all ran into my bedroom looking like feral, gypsy children. Youngest was only wearing pyjama bottoms and his nappy was dragging on the floor….OH was supposed to be looking after them. Ah well, now and then doesn’t hurt. All in all we’d had a great night and can’t wait to do it again!
